Rail affected amid hundreds of lightning strikes

Train passengers have faced disruption to rail services after hundreds of lightning strikes in parts of northern England over the last 24 hours.

Some services in West, South and North Yorkshire were cancelled or delayed earlier while repairs were made to a signalling system.

A suspected lightning strike also caused disruption on the West Coast Main Line near Runcorn, Network Rail said.

In Leicestershire, several homes had to be evacuated in the early hours after a property was struck by lightning, causing a fire.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service said crews were called at 04:57 BST on Thursday to a fire on the roof of a house in Bayswater Road, Melton.

A spokesperson said the fire had now been extinguished and there were no casualties.

Train operator Northern said services between Leeds and Sheffield via Castleford and Barnsley had been affected by the earlier disruption, as well as those to Carlisle to Leeds via Sheffield.

Transpennine Express had said all lines between Leeds and Castleford were blocked, but the disruption had now ended and trains were running as normal.

Services also resumed on Northern and Transpennine Express lines between Leeds and Wakefield at about 13:30 BST.

Meanwhile, Network Rail said teams were urgently fixing blown fuses in the equipment at Weaver Junction near Runcorn after the systems went offline.

Only one train an hour is currently running between Crewe and Liverpool, calling at Runcorn and Liverpool South Parkway, Network Rail said.

The Met Office's lightning strikes map said more than 85,000 incidents had been reported since 13:10 BST on Tuesday.

BBC weather forecaster Billy Payne said there has been more than 550 cloud to ground lightning strikes across northern areas since 13:00 on Wednesday, at least partly caused by the high levels of heat and humidity.

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